Dan Hamhuis isn't holding out a lot of hope that there will be a quick resolution to the NHL lockout, especially when NHLPA proposals were quickly dismissed last week. (Getty Images via National Hockey League).

VANCOUVER — Dan Hamhuis practised with the UBC Thunderbirds on Wednesday because he has other plans Thursday. They won’t revolve around waiting with heightened anticipation for a resolution to the NHL lockout.

Like his peers, the Vancouver Canucks defencemen expects commissioner Gary Bettman will confirm there won’t be an 82-game schedule commencing Nov. 2 — to reflect a Thursday deadline he imposed to reach an agreement — and that another month of the regular season could be lost to the collective bargaining impasse. The bad blood and staring contest between Bettman and the players’ union doesn’t surprise Hamhuis. It’s as if the owners have a settlement date in mind — hello Dec. 1 — when players may be more desperate by missing cheques and the Winter Classic can be salvaged on Jan 1. That would mean bridging the revenue-sharing gap in the coming weeks because while both sides agree on a 50-50 split, they can’t agree how to get there. Three counter-proposals last Thursday by the NHLPA were quickly dismissed by the league.

In the interim, Bettman was present Wednesday as the New York Islanders announced a move to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn when their lease with the antiquated Nassau County Coliseum ends after the 2014-15 season. So much for CBA traction.

“I don’t know how much they think about the CBA,” said Hamhuis. “We spent three days putting together three proposals and they spent 10 minutes declining them and put the the spin in the media that it wasn’t a very good offer. It was very significant. There was a lot of noise made when the league made a 50-50 offer [Oct. 16] and when we drop off from 57 per cent to progress into 50-50, that’s a huge concession.

“I believe they [owners] have to come back to the table with something. The biggest deal for us is to honour our contracts and that’s fair. They signed them and we’ve given them three different ways to get to 50-50. It really seems like common sense.

“When they offered 50-50, we figured it would be one of three things: It was pressure from other owners to put an offer out, an actual legitimate chance of negotiating or just Gary and he’s got a date in his head when everything comes back together. He seems to be on some hidden agenda and a day they [owners] can’t go past. If that’s what it is and we keep conceding, it only makes sense for us to hold out.”

Bettman said Wednesday that the finger of blame should be pointed at the NHLPA because as much as the players approached the league Tuesday to renew a CBA discussion, they had nothing new to offer.

“The union has chose not to engage on our proposal or to make a new proposal of their own so unfortunately, it looks like the 82-game schedule is not going to be a reality,” he said. “And although the clock still has a little bit of time to run things, they seem to be not progressing as we would like and we are disappointed.”

The CBA talks have been like watching a tennis match. When the NHLPA serves up a revenue-sharing solution, the owners’ response has been to come back with more concessions on systemic issues. A clause in existing contracts over five years, where a traded player would have his salary cap hit applied to the club that moved him should that player cease to play, is a non-starter for the NHLPA.

“It’s tough negotiating,” added Hamhuis. “We’re trying to make this work and in keeping the conversation going. But every part of this negotiation has been going away from the players. When we get closer to a 50-50 share, they take other things away from us. If we drop to 50-50, at least keep things like free agency the way they are [age 27 instead of 28 for most players] instead of making them harder.”

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HELLO BROOKLYN

It takes forever to get there and when you finally find the outdated Nassau County Coliseum, it’s like entering a hockey time warp. Old barn, bad seats, aging old hotel across the parking lot and a hard for the New York Islanders to warm up to.

When owner Charles Wang announced Wednesday that the Islanders will be moving to the new Barclays Center in Brooklyn when the club’s lease expires following the 2014-15 NHL season, it came as no surprise. Efforts to construct a new development in Uniondale that would include a new arena never swayed politicians or the populace. That energy could now be put into moving the Isles earlier. It would certainly please visiting players.

“It wasn’t my favourite place to play,” said Hamhuis. “The whole set-up with the hotel and rink were certainly dated. When Western Conference teams came in there the atmosphere wasn’t too great. I know they had some rivalries in the east, but I think it will be good overall for the NHL to have a change. It was old and we felt small in there.”

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